Piecing together the schedule

Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesOcho Cinco will be here in Week Tres. Maybe. (Well, at least his current team will be.)

The schedule officially comes out at 2 p.m. today, but through the magic of various anonymous scources, I can give you bits and pieces as we get closer.

Your first couple of pieces are already in:

*The first three games are home against the 'Skins, on the road against the Rams and home against the Bengals. I don't have starting times other than the Thurs, Sept. 4 opener against Washington which will kick off at 7 p.m.

*The bye week is Week 4 (Sept. 28). This won't please Tom Coughlin, who was ecstatic about a Week 9 bye last year. But that was only because the league gave the Giants the week off after the game against the Dolphins in London.

*The home game against the Seahawks will be early in the season -- perhaps Week 5 after the bye. That would mean the Giants will play three of their first four games at home. Sounds like they'll have a chunk of their December sked on the road.

*The season finale is at Minnesota.

*I'm told there are three night games scheduled for the road -- one of which is a Monday nighter at Cleveland. There's another night game at Philly. Obviously, the key will be whether or not the other two night games are Sunday or Monday night. After all, Sunday night games late in the year can be flexed and are therefore not guaranteed to be played under the lights.

Wish I had more for you now but didn't want to leave you hanging on what I did have.

***

So my editor was looking at last year's archives and saw I filed this on our schedule breakdown:

Toughest stretch -- December, with games at Chicago and Philly, home against the 'Skins, back on the road to face Buffalo and home against New England.

Trap game -- Minnesota

Easiest stretch -- Atlanta, San Fran and Miami

To which I told him, "Thanks for the pat on the back, but I misidentified what was truly the easiest stretch: The playoffs!"